Council of Change
by ardavenport
Summary: A what-if story about Qui-Gon surviving the fight with Maul and being on the Jedi Council.
1. Chapter 1

**COUNCIL OF CHANGE**

by ardavenport

**- - - Part 1**

"Your final word, this is?" Yoda asked.

"It is, my Masters." Dooku answered, his voice firm. He stood in the exact center of the ornate floor pattern in the round Council chamber, at the peak of its tower high over the Jedi Temple. Full Coruscant daylight shone in through the wide windows from all sides, from the plane of the busy city below and the blue sky above, leaving no shadows in the room, only reflections.

Yoda sighed and lowered his head, his long ears drooping.

"Very well then." The small Master accepted this last statement and then looked up again. "A Jedi you are, no more..._Count_ Dooku."

The members of Jedi Council all lowered their eyes, but Qui-Gon Jinn stole a look up at his former Master. At one time, this man had trained him in the ways of the Force. Qui-Gon had given him his complete, unquestioning loyalty, and Dooku had returned it, to him and to the Jedi Order. Qui-Gon had learned much from him. However, they had never been alike, never brothers, never truly close. So, they had gone in different directions after his apprenticeship ended, but Qui-Gon would never, ever have imagined that Dooku's path would lead to this.

Dooku stood straight and tall, slim in a black suit and dark red cape; he had already discarded the traditional tunic, obi and tabards, the garb of a Jedi Knight. His nearly white hair and beard accented his already aristocratic bearing. One might never suspect that this man had ever been a Jedi now.

Dooku's eye caught Qui-Gon's and held it.

Master Yoda held out his small, green, clawed hand. "Your lightsaber, Count Dooku."

Dooku sighed and unclipped the simple sliver lightsaber hilt from his belt. He held it up, but instead of giving it to Yoda, he walked over to Qui-Gon Jinn's chair and held it out. Again, their eyes locked. Qui-Gon did not extend his hand to accept it.

The Masters on either side of Qui-Gon, Eeth Koth and Adi Gallia looked up at Dooku with increasing hostility, but Qui-Gon remained expressionless, knowing that the longer the moment stretched out, the more it worked in his favor. The gesture had been a mistake and Dooku seemed to realize it, but he shrugged it off as apparently unimportant. He relented and laid the lightsaber down on the seat in front of Qui-Gon. He went back to the center of the room and bowed to them all. With one last, "May the Force be with you," he left.

Qui-Gon stared down at Dooku's discarded saber, but he noted new hostility in Even Piell, Mace Windu and Ki-Adi Mundi. They had been Dooku's strongest defenders. The 'Count' had lost them now.

"This Council is ended," Mace Windu announced, his deep voice unhappy. He rose, looking toward Qui-Gon with sympathy that had not been there when the Council session had started. Qui-Gon sighed, letting the emotion of the moment flow out of him as the others stood. He had known this moment would be difficult, but he felt also that he had gained from it. The suspicion had shifted to Dooku and by default Qui-Gon's positions had gained credibility.

Yaddle and Eeth Koth asked him if he needed anything. Even Oppo Rancisis shuffled over to offer him help. The unaccustomed kindness from that crusty old bastard threatened to renew Qui-Gon's emotions. He lowered his head and without touching it asked if the older Master could take care of Dooku's lightsaber for him. Oppo's tentacle-like fingers snagged the saber and it disappeared under his long, gray beard into his dark robes as he bowed to Qui-Gon and left with the others.

Qui-Gon sat back in his chair. It had a full back that he could recline in, a luxury that he was glad of at the moment. A motion by the door, Depa Billaba pointing toward him, caught his attention. Qui-Gon sat forward again.

His former Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, now a full Jedi Knight, strode up and bowed, his hands folded into the wide sleeves of his brown robe, a perfect Jedi greeting. Then he grinned, his bearded face beaming. Qui-Gon smiled back.

"You have something to report, Obi-Wan?"

"Yes, Master..."

They both turned their heads back toward the open door. Master Yoda, the last of the other Council members to leave cast them both one disapproving look. Leaning over his gimer stick, he slowly shook his head. Qui-Gon was absolutely certain that Yoda knew what he had sent Obi-Wan to do. Yoda often disapproved of any of the little missions or projects that Qui-Gon used his authority on the Council to initiate. But Yoda also never opposed them, either. Grumbling, he hobbled out, leaving them alone.

"I found Shmi Skywalker on Tatooine, Master."

"I presume from your expression, that she is well?"

"Very well, Master." Obi-Wan grinned again. "She was bought from Watto and freed by a moisture farmer...and...they're married, Sir."

Qui-Gon sat back with surprise.

"Really? And you're sure she's well?"

"Yes, Master. I...was at the wedding," he admitted. "He was gruff and coarse, but I sensed no darkness at all in the man. He seemed quite...smitten. And while I cannot be sure that she loved him, there was...affection," he added to Qui-Gon's skeptical look.

Qui-Gon's smile returned. "She did say that her place was on Tatooine," he said quietly. "Thank-you, Obi-Wan. I know Anakin will be relieved to hear this news about his mother." Obi-Wan's face changed, as if there were more and Qui-Gon prompted him.

"Um," he began hesitantly. He turned to the door, then back to Qui-Gon. "Master...I saw Master Dooku leaving..."

"Count Dooku, now," Qui-Gon informed him.

"I'm sorry...to hear that."

"I am not," Qui-Gon admitted. He waved his hand, using the Force to activate the float chair behind his seat. "It is best over and that our positions are clear now."

Obi-Wan stepped back as the chair rose level with the Council seat and Qui-Gon used the stumps of his legs to work his way forward to it.

"Master?"

Qui-Gon looked up.

"May I?" Obi-Wan offered.

For a time after he had lost his arm and both legs to the Sith that had almost killed both of them on Naboo, Qui-Gon would have automatically refused any assistance at all. But time and experience had taught him that rejecting help was just another way of isolating himself, and he'd had quite enough of that.

"Thank-you, Obi-Wan." Obi-Wan leaned forward and Qui-Gon put his left arm around Obi-Wan's shoulders while he pinned a fold of his robe to his chest with the stump of his right arm to keep it from pulling off of his own shoulder. Obi-Wan put his strong arms around his body and lifted him up into the float chair. Then Qui-Gon settled in with his leg stumps and pulled the wrinkles of his dark brown robe out from under him and arranged it. While his pants were short and folded over the ends of his legs, his robe was the same length it had been when he'd still had legs. Even though it was inconvenient to drag the extra length of it around, Qui-Gon thought it looked silly cut short to his body. So, he smoothed it out behind him and left it bunched up and spilling out from the chair on either side. The robe easily concealed his one, good limb as well as it hid his lack of the other three.

He directed the chair toward the exit and Obi-Wan walked with him.

"Do you still suspect Dooku of being in league with the Sith?" Obi-Wan asked as they stood by lift door.

"Yes," he answered grimly.

"Do you believe that he is a Sith?"

Qui-Gon remained silent. He had not sensed any darkness from Dooku when he had stood in the Council chamber.

"I don't know," he finally answered. "I don't feel it. But I don't see how he could cooperate with any Sith without being one. And there are...shadow of the Dark Side rising. The Council senses it." Obi-Wan's blue eyes looked back at him earnestly.

The lift doors opened and they entered the well-lit, windowless car. It descended down the tall tower.

"Do you really think that Dooku killed Sipho Dyas?"

Qui-Gon had never formally voiced his suspicions, but everyone else on the Council knew them. Most of them thought that this was just another of his far-fetched pursuits of the Sith. Only one had been destroyed on Naboo; they knew there was another, but the efforts of many Jedi Knights and years of looking had yielded little.

After today's session, Qui-Gon knew that the others would take his ideas more seriously and not simply tolerate his eccentricities. Qui-Gon wondered if a pair of legs really made the difference between a rogue and an eccentric.

"Yes, I am sure of it," he finally answered.

**- - - End Part 1**


	2. Chapter 2

**COUNCIL OF CHANGE**

by ardavenport

**- - - Part 2**

The lift doors opened.

"Oh, Master Kenobi, I'm so glad you've returned!" an effeminate voice exclaimed as they exited the lift. Qui-Gon stared up at an extremely battered protocol droid. Next to him, Obi-Wan seemed to be blushing.

"I'm sorry, Master. Shmi Skywalker insisted that I bring Anakin's droid back with me."

"Oh, yes, she was most particular that I should deliver her felicitations to her son. And she thought that I may be of some assistance to you, Master Qui-Gon, after hearing about your most unfortunate circumstances." The droid gave him a little bow.

Qui-Gon stared back, appalled at the idea of being followed around by a shambling droid that his Padawan had put together from spare parts. It was a little more finished than the last time he'd seen it. It had faded gold body and limb covers now, old and dented in places with a few conspicuous grease dribbles.

"I'm sure that won't be necessary..."

"C3PO, at your service," it prompted.

"3PO?" They all looked at the sound of the young voice coming up from the wide stairs leading down to the hall below. Anakin Skywalker, in a pale tunic and tabards, his outfit an almost exact copy of his Master's, stared, open mouthed at his former project. Then he ran up the last few steps and crossed the patterned floor to them and hugged the droid. Anakin was a bit talker than he had been when left the droid behind on Tatooine and for a moment Qui-Gon thought he would knock it over, but the machine managed to stay on its feet.

"Master Anakin! Oh dear. Oh dear." The droid held its human-shaped arms out, its hands fluttering. Its face was a perfect blank of round, glowing eye sensors and square audio-mouth, but it managed to express enthusiasm with some bobbling bows when Anakin released it. Immediately, the boy looked toward Obi-Wan.

"I asked Obi-Wan to inquire about your mother," Qui-Gon told him. "Apparently she is doing very well. But I wasn't expecting her to send a 'gift'." He eyed C3PO dubiously. Obi-Wan covered his mouth and looked away, unsuccessfully trying to be subtle about his amusement. The droid launched into it's own narrative of Shmi Skywalker while her son listening intently, but his expression changed from joy to shock and then doubt when he heard about the marriage. Qui-Gon did not like the look he saw on his young Padawan's face; he would speak to him later about it.

"Anakin," Qui-Gon interrupted. "Perhaps you can take C3PO here to Droid Maintenance. I'm sure the Temple will make good use him."

"Oh, but Sir, I've been expecting to serve you. Mistress Shmi–"

"That would be great," Anakin interrupted. "It takes him forever to get dressed in the morning," Anakin confided rather bluntly.

"I use that time for my meditation, young one." Qui-Gon saw the same look of impatience he always got from Anakin when the subject of his infirmities came up. Obi-Wan remained silent, still trying to be discreet about smiling.

Qui-Gon knew that Anakin Skywalker would have eagerly helped the medical droids pick out and service prosthetic replacements for his Master's missing limbs, but Qui-Gon could not bear the idea of wielding a lightsaber through a dead, mechanical appendage. He could not even bear allowing the neural implants necessary for fully functioning limbs. Qui-Gon was hardly the only Jedi to refuse bio-mechanical enhancements, but he did have the most extensive injuries that the Med Center had dealt with in some time. The most he had allowed the medical droids to do was fit him with hard metal and plastic 'feet' and an 'arm', but they were simple mechanical tools of springs and levers, with no power sources, no electronics, no internal computers at all and especially no implants. He exercised and fought with them (he'd begun experimenting training without them with mixed success) though he only used his saber left-handed. He could even walk around the Temple with them, but he didn't since he was ridiculously short standing in them, barely half of Obi-Wan's height, and he would be forced to cut the length of his robe.

"We will determine C3PO's status later," he told his apprentice. He privately vowed that C3PO would never set foot in his room. Jedi were forbidden personal possessions and he would use that prohibition to keep it away from him, but Anakin's considerable talents could be put to good use fixing it. "In the meantime, I am sure it would benefit from some overdue maintenance." The droid heartily agreed. Anakin's keen eyes were already sizing up C3PO for an overhaul as he led it away.

Qui-Gon then critically turned to his former pupil. Obi-Wan feigned innocence as he strolled next to him down the wide stairway to the great hall, light shining in from the tall windows from Coruscant and the gray top of the Temple. Qui-Gon's irritation over the droid diminished as he acknowledged the mirth in Obi-Wan's young, blue eyes. The older Jedi turned his float chair toward one of the windows and Obi-Wan followed. They stood together in a square of sunlight, completely insulated from the noise and bustle outside, looking out over the city and its ever present air traffic.

Obi-Wan folded his arms before him and then began to stroke his thick, brown beard, a new and unique gesture that he had acquired since becoming a full Knight. Qui-Gon was not inclined to stroking his own, now graying, beard. He sat up straight in the float chair, his own blue eyes looking sideways up at the younger man, silently asking what else he had on his mind.

"Qui-Gon," he began. "I know that you suspect Count Dooku of being that Sith Lord that we've been looking for–"

"No, Obi-Wan," he corrected. "I believe he is the apprentice. The new apprentice who replaced the one you killed. We have yet to determine who the Master is." He turned his chair to Obi-Wan. "Everyone on the Council acknowledges now the danger of the Sith, the shadow of the Dark Side, yet no one can devise it's source, though all of us have meditated deeply on it."

"You think that the Sith are responsible for the increasing strife in the Republic?"

"A climate of strife would suit the Sith very well, Obi-Wan, no matter who is fighting for what cause. Even if it is for a just cause, the fight itself serves the Sith's purposes."

"But what else are we to do? We must oppose them. We must defend the Republic."

Qui-Gon's lips curled in a small, sad smile. "Must we Obi-Wan? The Republic has stood for a mere millennium, what is that compared to the Force? All things change. The Jedi seem to have forgotten that."

Obi-Wan stepped back out of their square of sunlight, his blue eyes wide with shock. But Qui-Gon did not feel discouraged by it. Obi-Wan had responded exactly the same way when Qui-Gon had first confided in him about his suspicions about Dooku. Obi-Wan and the whole Council had resisted his idea that a Vergence in the Force centered on Anakin when he had first found the boy, yet now Anakin was his Padawan and the possibility that he might be the Chosen One, prophesied to bring balance to the Force, was accepted.

Qui-Gon was now certain that the Sith had political power in the Senate that possibly reached all the way up to the Chancellor's office. And if it went that far, then the Jedi could no longer defend the Republic for they would also be instruments of the Sith, an unimaginable paradox, but now a real possibility to Qui-Gon. They could not fight such an enemy without becoming part of a political struggle; the Jedi were sworn to neutrality. If this were so, Qui-Gon knew he would have to leave Coruscant, but as a member of the Jedi Council he would take whole Jedi Order with him if he could.

He patiently waited for the younger man to absorb his latest outrageous idea. Obi-Wan seemed to choke down the possibility and regain at least the surface appearance of calm. He stepped back toward Qui-Gon.

"I was thinking of taking on a Padawan," he announced, changing the subject, yet also giving a reason why he might resist the extreme possibility that Qui-Gon hinted at.

"Aaaaah." Qui-Gon smiled up at Obi-Wan, pleased by this news, and letting the conversation move on to something that the younger man was more comfortable with. "Do you have anyone in mind? Anyone I would know?"

"A young girl, Dyen Mavis. She is very strong with the Force." Since his injury and being appointed to the Council, Qui-Gon spent nearly all of his time at the Temple and he regularly saw and instructed the younger, un-apprenticed Padawans, but he did not recognize the name.

"I shall certainly take note of her," he answered amiably. "With a new Padawan, you will be at the Temple more and able to assist me in my...inquiries." Qui-Gon gently turned the topic back to his own interests.

"I am all but certain that Dooku tampered with the Archives, to conceal some of his activities. Unfortunately the Archivists seem to think this is an impossibility and they have been most unhelpful. Perhaps you could negotiate your way around this problem?"

Obi-Wan bowed to him. "I'm always available to assist you, Master." Qui-Gon nodded back, feeling great pride and gratitude for the support. Even with his doubts, Obi-Wan Kenobi's loyalty was nearly as reliable as the Force itself.

Obi-Wan turned back to gaze out the window again and the city scape beyond.

"Do you think that this will all change? Soon?"

Qui-Gon had long meditated about where his inquires were leading. When he had first sensed the Vergence in the Force about Anakin he had never even considered the idea that bringing balance to the Force might entail huge upheavals, and might even require the oncoming conflict with the Sith. That oversight now seemed hopelessly naive to him now. All paths led to change, massive, unprecedented, possibly violent change, for the Jedi and for the whole galaxy. Qui-Gon accepted change; it was the way of living things, the way of the Living Force.

"I am certain of it."

** End **

(This story first posted on tf.n: 26-Mar-2008)


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